Before, During, and After: How Phases of Competition Differentially Affect Testosterone, Cortisol, and Estradiol Levels in Women Athletes

Abstract

Testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) are hormones related to, respectively, dominance motivation and stress. Levels of both hormones increase in association with athletic competition. Estradiol (E) has been linked to dominance motivation in women, but has heretofore not been studied in the context of athletic competition. In this study, salivary levels of T, C, and E were determined for women soccer players to obtain a neutral-day baseline. Later, changing levels of these same hormones were tracked across the course of two intercollegiate matches, one played at home (a loss) and the other played away (a win). Before warm-up levels of C and E (but not T) were elevated relative to neutral-day baseline. T and E (but not C) increased during warm-up. T and C increased during the competition, while E declined to baseline. During the 30-min period after the end of competition, T decreased while C remained elevated. Pre-warm-up, warm-up, and competition-related changes in T, C, and E were not dependent on match venue (home vs away) or match outcome (win vs loss). T and C decreased more within the 30 min after the game that was won compared to the game that was lost. Over the course of athletic competition, levels of T, C, and E change differentially in relation to each other in remarkably reliable and predictable patterns across individuals and sports contexts. These findings should encourage study of the ways in which the interplay of these hormonal changes influence and/or is influenced by the psychological experience of competition.